Life Sciences Commons^™

How Climate Impacts The Composition Of Wolf-Killed Elk In Northern Yellowstone National Park, Christopher C. Wilmers, Matthew C. Metz, Daniel R. Stahler, Michel T. Kohl, Chris Geremia, Douglas W. Smith

Ecology Center Publications

1. While the functional response of predators is commonly measured, recent work has revealed that the age and sex composition of prey killed is often a better predictor of prey population dynamics because the reproductive value of adult females is usually higher than that of males or juveniles.
2. Climate is often an important mediating factor in determining the composition of predator kills, but we currently lack a mechanistic understanding of how the multiple facets of climate interact with prey abundance and demography to influence the composition of predator kills.
3. Over 20 winters, we monitored 17 wolf packs in Yellowstone National Park …

Epidemic Spruce Beetle Outbreak Changes Drivers Of Engelmann Spruce Regeneration, Jessika M. Pettit, Julia I. Burton, R. Justin Derose, James N. Long, Steve L. Voelker

Ecology Center Publications

Climate‐mediated disturbances outside the range of historical variability can have severe consequences on vital, post‐disturbance regeneration processes. High‐elevation forests of the Rocky Mountains that are dominated by Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) are expected to be sensitive to climate change. Additionally, these forests have experienced recent epidemic spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) outbreaks that have often resulted in >95% mortality of overstory Engelmann spruce. Therefore, the future distribution of Engelmann spruce forests depends largely on natural regeneration processes. We examined Engelmann spruce seedlings across gradients in soil moisture and stand structural …

The Missing Angle: Ecosystem Consequences Of Phenological Mismatch, Karen H. Beard, Katharine C. Kelsey, A. Joshua Leffler, Jeffrey M. Welker

Ecology Center Publications

Climate change leads to unequal shifts in the phenology of interacting species, such as consumers and their resources, leading to potential phenological mismatches. While studies have investigated how phenological mismatch affects wild populations, we still lack studies and a framework for investigating how phenological mismatch affects ecosystems, particularly nutrient cycling.

Back To The Future: Conserving Functional And Phylogenetic Diversity In The Amphibian-Climate Refuges, Ricardo Lourenço-De-Moraes, Felipe S. Campos, Rodrigo B. Ferreira, Mirco Solé, Karen H. Beard, Rogério P. Bastos

Ecology Center Publications

Climate refuges have been used by several species over historical climate change. Ectothermic species often display good models for climate change studies because they are highly sensitive to temperature. Analysis of species loss with ecosystem and evolutionary values helps to understand environmental processes and climate change consequences. We determined the functional and phylogenetic diversity of amphibians in the Atlantic Forest hotspot, using multiple models representing present and future conditions. Through a novel approach, we predict species’ threat status by 2080, following the IUCN’s criterion B1. Our results estimate a drastic reduction in species richness, ecosystem functioning and evolutionary history at …

Resilience And Resistance In Sagebrush Ecosystems Are Associated With Seasonal Soil Temperature And Water Availability, Bruce A. Roundy, Jeanne C. Chambers, David A. Pyke, Richard F. Miller, Robin J. Tausch, Eugene W. Schupp, Ben Rau, Trevor Gruell

Ecology Center Publications

Invasion and dominance of exotic grasses and increased fire frequency threaten native ecosystems worldwide. In the Great Basin region of the western United States, woody and herbaceous fuel treatments are implemented to decrease the effects of wildfire and increase sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystem resilience to disturbance and resistance to exotic annual grasses. High cover of the exotic annual cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) after treatments increases fine fuels, which in turn increases the risk of passing over a biotic threshold to a state of increased wildfire frequency and conversion to cheatgrass dominance. Sagebrush ecosystem resilience to wildfire and resistance …

The Response Of Big Sagebrush (Artemisia Tridentata) To Interannual Climate Variation Changes Across Its Range, Andrew R. Kleinhesselink, Peter B. Adler

Ecology Center Publications

Understanding how annual climate variation affects population growth rates across a species' range may help us anticipate the effects of climate change on species distribution and abundance. We predict that populations in warmer or wetter parts of a species' range should respond negatively to periods of above average temperature or precipitation, respectively, whereas populations in colder or drier areas should respond positively to periods of above average temperature or precipitation. To test this, we estimated the population sensitivity of a common shrub species, big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), to annual climate variation across its range. Our analysis includes 8,175 …

Limited Alpine Climatic Warming And Modeled Phenology Advancement For Three Alpine Species In The Northeast United States, Michael L. Davis, Kenneth D. Kimball, Douglas M. Weihrauch, Georgia L. D. Murray, Kenneth Rancourt

Ecology Center Publications

• Premise of the study: Most alpine plants in the Northeast United States are perennial and flower early in the growing season, extending their limitedgrowing season. Concurrently, they risk the loss of reproductive efforts to late frosts. Quantifying long-term trends in northeastern alpine flower phenology and late-spring/early-summer frost risk is limited by a dearth of phenology and climate data, except for Mount Washington, New Hampshire (1916 m a.s.l.).
• Methods: Logistic phenology models for three northeastern US alpinespecies (Diapensia lapponica, Carex bigelowii and Vaccinium vitis-idaea) were developed from 4 yr (2008–2011) of phenology and air temperature measurements from 12 …